French Braid

I am very pleased to say that I have finally finished the French braid bed topper that I have been working on since August last year.   I have put it on the backburner too many times in order to make other items.   Generally as a rule I do not like sewing hanging around in the WIP stage for too long but this one just seemed to slip "through the cracks".   The photo below shows it hanging on my clothesline

And the photo below shows it on my parents' bed for which it was made

I was relieved to see that it was a good fit as their bed is smaller than ours and I was "guesstimating" the measurements.

Now onto the green challenge and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Misty Mountains

Is where hubs and I headed for a few days during the week to enjoy the misty weather that was on offer at the mountains.   The weather can change very quickly in the mountains and during the four days that we were there we saw heavy fog, drizzly rain and sunshine.   Fog in the valleys

Some nice frothy hot chocolate to sip and warm up after being out in 3 degrees.

Time to check into our  hotel

Next morning saw us up early and heading out to Capertee Valley which is reportedly the second largest canyon in the world.   It is 30 kms wide - 1 kilometre wider than the Grand Canyon but not as deep.   Main Street of Capertee

Do not blink or you will miss it.   From here you take a turn off and head down into the Valley floor
where you can look up and see huge cliffs  all around.

I like this idea for a garden.....very waterwise.

On the way home we stopped off to see the lookout at Hassans Walls just out of Lithgow.   Once you have negotiated the road to the top of the lookout there is a boardwalk

To see a 300  degree view of the valley below.  

It was worth the scary 2.4 kilometre narrow rough road to the top.

Timing is everything and just as we rounded the corner on one of the cliff drives that we did the sun was hitting the Three Sisters in just the right spot.    I have called them the "Golden Girls" in this photo.

After a few days of pampering and luxury it was time to pack our bags and head home to face reality again.....washing, shopping and cooking.  

While I was away I did some "googling" and I think I have come up with an idea for my "green challenge".   Back soon with some piccies of what I think I will go with and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

 

FNSI

Saw me putting the finishing touches to July's Sunbonnet Sue.     Seeing that July is halfway through winter I decided to call this month's  theme "Snowflake Sue" and was lucky enough to find a snowflake button to go on her bonnet.

 
I am going to pop over to Wendy's blog and see what fun everyone else had last night during FNSI.   Thanks again Wendy for another great  night of sewing.  

My next project is a challenge which has been issued by my quilting group....thinking, thinking and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Fitzroy Falls

Is where hubs and I headed recently for a day out to explore the Southern Highlands of NSW.  It is nice to head off the main road and find country lanes

Keep your eyes open and find terminate nests

Walk alongside what appears to be a quiet stream

Which ends up being a huge waterfall

It is certainly a long way to the bottom

Time for a bit of retail therapy and a late  lunch at Berrima before heading home.

I have to report that I am very disappointed in the white marker that I bought a couple of weeks ago.   It does not show up very well on dark fabric.    I can see a faint outline but not very clearly that I feel confident to follow it when trying to free motion quilt a border.    So back to the drawing board  for plan B and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

A quick quilt.....

Was needed for bub now that she is more restless of a night so it was decided to make a quilt that was big enough to tuck in all around the cot yet give her room to move without feeling like she is sleeping in a straight jacket.     Time is getting closer to converting the cot into a toddler bed so with that in mind I measured the quilt to reach from floor to floor on each side.

A rummage through my stash revealed two pieces of fabric big enough to use by just adding a couple of borders on either side in order to speed up the process and get it made over the weekend.   Two for the price of one....got to be happy with that.   To quilt it I used a simple grid design then went back and cross hatched to create a diamond design in the middle.  

This is the front

 And on the flip side

Bub likes to spend quite a lot of time saying goodnight to the moon and stars so I hope that this does not prove to be too much of a distraction from getting her to sleep.

I am pleased to say that the zipper on the pinafore went in well and that was also a finish on the weekend.  

I made a "to do list" for the long weekend on Friday afternoon which had 5 items on it and I have knocked off 2.     Maybe I need to sew faster or make shorter lists.    After lunch I will endeavour to put the ribbing on a top for myself.

Hopefully I will be back soon with some piccies of the other three items and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Soup of the day is....

Take one tin of diced tomatoes, 1 tin of five bean mix, 2 sticks of celery & one medium onion - dice these finely, 1 cup of chicken stock and one cup of penne pasta along with 1 litre  of water.   Put them all into a large saucepan, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for one hour stirring occasionally to end up with a lovely big bowl of hot steaming minestrone soup.

....enough for 4 generous serves.    Serve with a bread roll or hot buttered toast with a smear of Vegemite.  Delicious.     It makes a lovely lunch on a cold day.   Seeing that the wind is blowing and the temperature dropped I am going to make a pot of soup this morning.

Pls note that I am not advertising any product.....they just happen to be what I had in my pantry on the day.  

While my soup is simmering I am going to put a zipper in a pinafore that I am making for bub.    Zippers and I are not friends.   I will let you know how I go and in the meantime

Happy sewing all